Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Announced

Here is what the developer had to say about Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel,

Set between Borderlands and Borderlands 2, you’ll play as four all-new character classes fighting alongside Handsome Jack, witnessing his transformation into the ruthless tyrant you loved to hate in Borderlands 2, and assisting with the rise of the Hyperion Corporation. The signature shoot ‘n’ loot gameplay of the Borderlands series expands with the addition of low-gravity and oxygen-powered jetpack combat, the icy ‘Cryo’ elemental damage type, the deadly laser weapon class, and new vehicles to help you explore the diverse lunar landscape.

The four new playable character classes are all familiar faces from the Borderlands universe:

Athena the Gladiator (The Secret Armory of General Knoxx)

Wilhelm the Enforcer (the robotic badass of Borderlands 2)

Nisha the Lawbringer (The Sheriff of Lynchwood in Borderlands 2)

Claptrap the Fragtrap (from just about everywhere… unfortunately)

Take a look about the full details about Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel below, directly from 2K.

Handsome Jack is back with a whole new cast of playable characters and he’s taking you to the moon of Pandora in the next standalone AAA game in 2K’s best-selling franchise – Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. 2K announced today that the game is being co-developed by Gearbox Software and 2K Australia, and will be available later this fall for PlayStation 3. See, aren’t you glad you kept your PS3!?

Narratively, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel takes place between the original Borderlands game and Borderlands 2. For the very first time, you’ll play on the other side as four new playable characters fighting alongside Handsome Jack, and you’ll witness Jack’s transformation into the megalomaniacal tyrant that you loved to hate in Borderlands 2.

Fans of the franchise will no doubt remember some of these characters from past games. There’s Athena – The Gladiator, Wilhelm – The Enforcer, Nisha – The Lawbringer, and Claptrap – The Fragtrap. That’s right, you can play as THE Claptrap! Oh, and did we mention that you’re fighting on the moon!?

Pandora’s moon is called Elpis, and it’s inhabited by a whole bunch of new baddies – Scavengers, Lunatics, giant bandits in 70s-era NASA spacesuits – you know, the type you’d enjoy blasting off the surface of the moon. And that’s just it, because you’re off of Pandora, gravity is different and so is the atmosphere.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel has an all-new oxygen system that not only allows you to breathe in the moon’s zero-atmosphere environments, it gives you an oxygen-powered jetpack that enables you to perform insanely long moon jumps, or even double jumps. Combining your double jump with the crouch button performs a ground-pounding slam that deals area of effect damage, and can also deal crazy elemental damage.

Oxygen is a lootable resource just like ammo, which has been plentiful in past Borderlands games, so you don’t have to fear that you’ll run out.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Borderlands game without gazillions of new guns, but not just guns, all-new weapon and elemental damage types. In Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, you’ll shoot ‘n’ loot with laser guns – the type that ‘pew pew’ like in Star Wars, and the type that shoot continuous beams like in Ghostbusters. You’ll also freeze bandits in their place and shatter them into hundreds of bloody pieces using an array of Cryo weapons. Cryo is an all-new elemental damage type, and the combination of fire from laser and ice from Cryo has us itching to jump back into Borderlands.

What do you think? Are you excited to jump around Pandora’s moon, blasting bandits in the face with laser guns? Let us know in the comments below. Also, if you’re headed to PAX East this weekend, you have a chance to get a first look at Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel in action at 2K’s booth #962.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is due to release in the Fall for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.